Miss Maine, Emily Johnson, has to give up title because of NBC scheduling

Posted by Bob Weber on Apr 18th, 2011 in business | 0 comments

Back in November Emily Johnson was crowned Miss Maine, but six weeks into her reign NBC announced they had moved the Miss USA pageant to June from the traditional April to better fit in their schedule. Miss Johnson had a prior commitment, her sister’s wedding

“That was the only date the entire year I couldn’t do it,” Johnson said. “For a while, I was bawling my eyes out. I was so devastated.”

Miss Maine officials weren’t pleased.

Mackenzie Davis, executive director of the Miss Maine USA pageant, says she understands Johnson’s reasoning, but she says Miss Maine is a serious commitment and that she’s disappointed Johnson withdrew from her duties.

Emily has given up the title, prizes, trip to the Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas so she can be in her sister’s wedding.

Hiring overseas developers

Posted by Bob Weber on Apr 8th, 2011 in business | 0 comments

I have a question for everyone out there. Have you ever tried to hire a development team from overseas, India, the Phillipines, etc… I’ve just tried it and I would like to share my experiences.

Developer 1:

Accepted my project at a low hourly rate. Got started, but didn’t seem to grasp the project. After about a week of back and forth it was obvious he wasn’t going to do what I asked, so I cancelled it.

Developer 2:

This is a well reviewed development company, who seemed to have it all together. I created a project with three relatively simple tasks and got and estimate back that was about 10 times the length that I had anticipated. Sure, the hourly rate was low, but the project time was huge.

My question is, is this typical? I have a theory that overseas development firms are charging ridiculously low rates (1/10th of what an American developer would charge) but making up for it in the hours they bill on the project. This isn’t any observation about the technical skills of the developers, but more of a review on how their business model works.

Does anyone have any thoughts/similar experiences? I would love to hear them.

New site from e-Marketing Partner

Posted by Bob Weber on Apr 7th, 2011 in business | 0 comments

We have a new site launch from e-Marketing Partner. If you need Fire Sprinklers in Fort Collins take a look.

Bill Gates was the Mark Zuckerberg of His Time

Posted by Bob Weber on Mar 30th, 2011 in business, Humor | 0 comments

Paul Allen’s new book accuses Bill Gates of attempting to steal shares of Microsoft from him while he Paul was undergoing treatment for cancer. In this video from the Wall Street Journal – The News Hub discusses if these accusations hurt Bill Gates. During the segment author Julia Angwin states that Gates ‘was the Mark Zuckerberg of his time’? The Mark Zuckerberg of his time? Really? (shakes head)

Bags fly free, but fat people pay double

Posted by Bob Weber on Feb 16th, 2010 in business | 0 comments

In the corporate fopah of the week, Southwest Airlines threw director Kevin Smith off an airplane for being too fat.

Smith, 39, originally purchased two tickets “as he’s been known to do when traveling Southwest,” the airline noted, but when he decided to fly standby on an earlier flight, only one seat remained. Although he had been seated, he was asked to leave.

Not only was Smith booted from the plane, on his eventual flight he sat next to a woman who was also told to purchase two tickets, so it looks like this is corporate policy this week. Apparently their plan to make up for not charging for bags is to charge fat people double for their flights. Who knows, might work.

It’s understandable that Southwest would want to protect the safety and comfort of their other customers, and it’s possible that Mr. Smith was too large to sit in his seat, but his experience was inexcusable. If airlines are going to make these kind of decisions about the size of their customers, there needs to be some standard of measurement, and there has to be a better way to handle the issue outside of embarrassing a person in front of a planeload of people.

Southwests’ ads promoting that Bags Fly Free! ask other airlines why they hate bags. Maybe someone should ask Southwest why they hate their customers.